Royals Sign Francisco Pena

The Royals signed catcher Francisco Pena to a Major League contract, adding him to their 40-man roster, reports MLB.com's Dick Kaegel. Pena, who had been a six-year minor league free agent, is represented by the Kinzer Management Group (per MLBTR's Agency Database).

Pena, the son of former Royals manager and current Yankees bench coach Tony Pena, spent the past six seasons in the Mets organization. He has yet to reach the Majors, but competition for his services must have been strong enough to warrant the MLB deal. The 24-year-old split 89 games between Triple-A Las Vegas and Double-A Binghamton in 2013 posting a .254/.300/.429 slash line in 315 plate appearances while also throwing out 30% of runners attempting to steal. Pena will battle Brett Hayes and George Kottaras to win the backup job to Salvador Perez.